Saturday & Sunday, April 18-19, 2015 10 am - 5 pmBoth in our meditation practice and in our daily lives, we may encounter situations or internal states that are difficult to meet with compassionate presence. This could be the result of accumulated stress or trauma, which may leave our physiology in a habitual or easily triggered state of fight, flight or freeze. We may experience this as constriction in our body, emotional reactivity, or intrusive thinking, and it may manifest in many other ways.

In this two-day workshop, we will develop our innate resources for calming activated states of fight, flight and freeze, and restoring a sense of balance and flow. Using your resources this way is a skill which you can practice immediately in your daily life. It is beneficial for everyday stress as well as unresolved traumatic stress, and because these somatic practices cut through discursive thought, they can help deepen meditation states.

We will also practice and discuss mindfulness—how it is actually the basis of these skills, and how to take care not to reinforce painful traumatic symptoms in the name of mindfulness.

Skills taught and practiced will be based primarily on Somatic Experiencing®, developed by Dr. Peter Levine, and will include other somatic approaches such as iRest Yoga Nidra, walking meditation, and partnered touch.

The workshop includes optional exercises, short meditations, discussion and brief presentations. Self-care, safety and self-regulation (learning to track and discharge activation in the nervous system) are the priorities. There will also be time to enjoy the beautiful resource of the Green Gulch valley, so you can return home nourished and renewed with skills to meet life more fully.

Fees: $220, $198 current SFZC members, $176 limited income.

Add $25 for CE certificate fee, to be paid at the time of registration.

For overnight accommodations please call the Green Gulch office at 415-383-3134. Overnight registration includes three meals per day.

If you participate as a commuter, please bring your own bag lunch. On Sunday a public lunch is available for a recommended donation of $15.

*Note about CE credits: SFZC is able to offer 8 CE credits for MFTs/LCSWs (Provider #3978) to those attending the entire workshop. A CE administrative fee of $25 should be paid at time of registration. For more information, please contact our Programming Department. For some events San Francisco Zen Center and the Spiritual Competency Resource Center team together to offer CE credit to MFTs, LCSWs, psychologists and nurses. SCRC offers CE credit to MFTs and LCSWs as required by the California Board of Behavioral Sciences (provider #PCE1851). SCRC is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education activities for psychologists. SCRC maintains responsibility for these programs and their content. SCRC also offers CE credit to nurses (California Board of Registered Nursing Provider #CEP11909). For complete information visit their website or contact David Lukoff, PhD, at 707.763.3576. To Register: Use the Register Online button above. Or call our toll free number (888.743.9362) or our local number (415.475.9362). Enrollment is limited to 18 people.

Rev. Jiko Jane Lazar, SEPRev. Jiko Jane Lazar, SEP*, was ordained as a Zen Priest in 2005 by Tenshin Reb Anderson and has trained residentially at Green Gulch Farm and Tassajara for eleven years. She served as shuso with Abbot Steve Stücky in the Fall of 2009. Having discovered her own unresolved trauma through zazen, she found Somatic Experiencing® (SE) to be of profound help and a strong complement to Zen practice. Now a certified Somatic Experiencing® Practitioner* with a private practice in Berkeley, CA, she sees her work as helping others to heal trauma and to face difficult karma with presence and compassion. Jane was a certified trainer in Nonviolent Communication between 1995 and 2000, and she holds a blackbelt in Aikido.

Patricia Meadows, SEPPatricia Meadows, SEP*, is a certified Somatic Experiencing® Practitioner* and a holistic nurse counselor. She brings 40 years experience in nursing, nursing and healthcare education, counseling, healing and trauma resolution work. Currently, in her integrative private practice, she facilitates a somatic and process-oriented approach to healing and living more fully and authentically in the present.